NBC SPORTS NETWORK TO AIR TEN IVY LEAGUE MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMES THIS SEASON

Live Coverage Kicks Off With Penn Hosting Villanova on December 8 at 8 p.m. ET

NEW YORK – October 10, 2012 – NBC Sports Network will present ten Ivy League men’s basketball games this season beginning with Penn hosting Big 5 rival Villanova on Saturday, December 8 at 8 p.m. ET. NBC Sports Network’s Ivy League schedule will feature all eight member schools.

NBC Sports Network’s 2012-13 Ivy League schedule also includes Florida at Yale on Sunday, January 6 at 5:30 p.m. ET, Penn at Princeton on Saturday, January 12 at 6 p.m. ET, Princeton at defending Ivy League Champion Harvard on Sunday, February 16 at 7 p.m. ET, and Cornell at Harvard on Saturday, March 9 at 5:30 p.m. ET.

This year, NBC Sports Network will televise more than 50 college basketball games, the most in the network’s history. A complete list of the 2012-13 NBC Sports Network college basketball schedule is forthcoming.

About the Ivy League:Founded in 1954, the Ivy League includes Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale universities, Dartmouth College, and the University of Pennsylvania, and is the most diverse intercollegiate conference in the country with over 8,000 athletes competing each year. Sponsoring conference championships in 33 men’s and women’s sports, and averaging more than 35 varsity teams at each school, the Ivy League provides more intercollegiate athletic opportunities per school than any other conference in the country. The Ivy League annually finishes among the top conferences in the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics competitive rankings, and Ivy student-athletes annually compile the country’s best records in the NCAA Academic Performance Ratings.

About the NBC Sports Network:NBC Sports Network, part of the NBC Sports Group, is dedicated to serving passionate sports fans. Now in nearly 80 million homes, the network is the cable television home of the Summer and Winter Olympics, National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Soccer (MLS), IZOD IndyCar Series, Tour de France and 34th America’s Cup. In addition, NBC Sports Network telecasts college football, college basketball, college hockey, horse racing surrounding the Triple Crown, Fight Night boxing, Ironman, the Dew Action Sports Tour and USA Sevens Rugby. The network is also home to original programs such as Costas Tonight, NFL Turning Point,Caught Looking, NBC Sports Talk, and Pro Football Talk. NBC Sports Network is distributed via cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States.